Chicken Wing Hunt On Smith's Silver Screen (Watch the Trailer)

3/13/2012 11:15:40 AM

By Greg Cotterill

In the summer of 2007, a band of misfits headed across New York State looking for the world's best Buffalo wing.

Later next month you could be tasting the "World's Best Buffalo Wings." You could also meet the only living person who was there when the first Buffalo wings were invented in 1964. On that fateful Friday night, Dominic Bellissimo was tending bar at the now famous Anchor Bar Restaurant in Buffalo, NY. Late that evening, a group of Dominic's friends arrived at the bar with ravenous appetites. Dominic asked his mother, Teressa, to prepare something for his friends to eat. The rest is food history.

Movie Audio Clip

Lyons native and former Finger Lakes Times reporter Matt Reynolds was the hunt's leader.

They could have ended their trip half-way across the state during an early morning stop at the Finger Lakes Radio Group when they came across the "Blue Bayou" wings made by Columbus Marshal Grady from Abigail's Restaruant in Seneca Falls.

The Smith Opera House will screen a rough cut of The Great Chicken Wing Huntby Matt Reynolds. The Great Chicken Wing Hunt follows a band of misfits on a quest to find the world’s best Buffalo wing. It takes a humorous look at the popularity of Buffalo wings, one of America’s most most loved foods, relationships, globalization, and the way trivial things inspire us. It asks the question, are there perfect things?

Director/Editor Matt Reynolds. From 2004 to 2007, he reported on eastern and central Europe for Reuters and The New York Times. Since moving to New York in 2008, he has worked as a film editor. As an assistant editor, he worked under Suzy Elmiger (Big Night) and the late Karen Schmeer (Fog of War; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control). In 2001, Reynolds was editor for the launch of NHL Live, a daily talk show on NHL Network, and recently co-edited History Channel’s Zombie’s: a Living History. The Great Chicken Wing Hunt is his first feature as a director.

The Hunter's Stats-

2,627 miles covered; two countries visited; 15 days on road

#cc0000;">- 284 types of wings eaten; 1,651 total wings (620 by Thor)

#cc0000;">- 174,608 wing calories consumed (68,200 by Thor)

#cc0000;">- One day record: 30 types of wings eaten on August 23 in Watertown, NY

#cc0000;">- Earliest wing: 5:45 a.m. (on morning TV show)

#cc0000;">- 187 hours of footage shot

A limited number of tickets are available for the April 14th Special Event: The Great Chicken Wing Hunt Reception at the Smith Opera House. Click here for details